You should dry fire more often. I should dry fire more often. We all should dry fire more often. Problem is, it’s not really all that fun. Empty the gun, move to a room with no live ammunition in it, check the gun a couple more times, then point at a safe direction. Confirm sight picture. Click. Rack slide. Repeat a hundred times or until you’re bored silly. It’s a lot like folding your laundry: You know it needs to be done, but you really don’t want to do it.
So, what if it could be more fun and instructional? No, not folding laundry; dry firing. Adding the new TOR-X rail-mounted laser from Steiner to your handgun gives you a super robust laser aiming device that also comes with the MantisX Training System built in. Simply download the free MantisX app, pair the TOR-X with the app and presto! You’re ready to dry fire with feedback. When you’re done with your training session, you’ve still got a green-laser aiming device on your pistol, too.
The MantisX app has drills you can run with par times, shot count limits, scoring and more. You can customize the dry-fire session to your liking, or simply start the session and go at your own pace. There are a number of pre-set drills you can run as well, from the MantisX Benchmark drill, reload drills, cadence drills and more. There are courses available from Mantis for various levels of marksmanship, including one for concealed-carry. It’s a powerful application that’s made even more useful with the addition of the TOR-X laser sight into which the MantisX System is integrated.
I had a chance to run a handful of drills with the TOR-X/MantisX system, and found it to add significant amount of fun to my dry practice. Because I’m a lazy guy who gets bored easily, I used my Langdon Tactical LTT Beretta 92—with the double-action system, there’s no need to rack the slide or even cock the hammer after every shot. Since it’s got the custom Langdon trigger, even the double-action trigger pull is light and manageable, making for nearly effortless dry practice.
The MantisX System works on a sophisticated system of shot-recognition that only picks up the near-instant movement of the hammer or striker, so you don’t have to worry about the device getting erroneous measurements when racking the slide (on a striker-fired pistol) or cocking the hammer (on a single-action 1911). I tested this quite a few times with the LTT Beretta, firing it in single-action mode for a number of strings to see if the cocking of the hammer interfered with the measurements. It did not.
Watch The Dot. Watch The Dot Not Move.
The advantage of pairing the TOR-X laser sight with the MantisX system is immediately apparent to those familiar with the MantisX System; namely, it eliminates the need for laser ammunition. The MantisX System in the TOR-X is setup for the Steiner laser, and a quick calibration routine is all that’s needed to make sure the two are working together. Make sure the gun is completely steady, hold it on target until the app tells you it’s ready and then you can dry fire to your heart’s content (finger?) with results transmitted instantaneously to your phone or tablet. You can run a preset number of shots, mix it up, or just keep one long rolling session going—it’s all up to you to go at your own pace.
One quick note, though: while the TOR-X/MantisX System is designed to be used in a number of ways, including starting from the holster, there aren’t a lot of dedicated holster fits available. For your training purposes, finding a holster designed for a specific handgun with a mounted light—provided the holster is engineered to index on a feature of the handgun like the trigger guard or ejection port—will work in a pinch. I found that a Tier1 Concealed holster I’ve used with the LTT Beretta before will work with the TOR-X attached to the Beretta instead of the SureFire X300. One of the really cool things you can do with the MantisX System is set up a par time for your draw, i.e. set a par time for 1.5 seconds from the beep to the shot and see if you can beat it.
Again, though, keep in mind this isn’t an exact fit for the pistol and laser combination. It worked fine for me in dry-fire practice, but I can’t say for certain I’d use it for everyday carry. I’m sure we’ll see dedicated holster fits the longer the TOR-X is on the market.
More effective dry-fire practice, complete with feedback? What’s not to like about that? Not only that, but you get a high-quality, rail-mounted laser from Steiner to go with it. Put this on your home-defense pistol, practice more often and sharpen your skills. There’s precious little drawback and much to gain. With an MSRP of $359, you’re getting a green-laser aiming device and a training system all rolled into one. Visit steiner-optics.com for more information or to order this new laser sight/training system.
